Diphteria crisis in continues to escalate, spreading in the region

The World Health Organization reports on the Venezuelan Humanitarian Crisis

“In Venezuela, the diphtheria outbreak that began in July 2016 remains active (Figure below). Since the start of the outbreak until EW 10 of 2018, a total of 1,602 suspected diphtheria cases were reported (324 cases in 2016, 1,040 in 2017, and 238 in 2018), of which 976 were confirmed by laboratory (314) or epidemiological-link (662), and 142 died (17 in 2016, 103 in 2017, and 22 in 2018). The cumulative case fatality rate is 14.5%.”